Prep2012-Pack1-CR-006 VCR07640 Easy

　　Which of the following best completes the passage below?

　　People buy prestige when they buy a premium product. They want to be associated with something special. Mass-marketing techniques and price reduction strategies should not be used because________.

　　A. Affluent purchasers currently represent a shrinking portion of the population of all purchasers

　　B. continued sales depend directly on the maintenance of an aura of exclusivity

　　C. purchasers of premium products are concerned with the quality as well as with the price of the products

　　D. expansion of the market niche to include a broader spectrum of consumers will increase profits

　　E. manufacturing a premium brand is not necessarily more costly than manufacturing a standard brand of the same product

　　Prep2012-Pack1-CR-007 VCR07642 Easy

　　Reviewer: The book Art's Dedine argues that European painters today lack skills that were common among European painters of preceding centuries. In this the book must be right, since its analysis of 100 paintings, 50 old and 50 contemporary, demonstrates convincingly that none of the contemporary paintings are executed as skillfully as the older paintings.

　　Which of the following points to the most serious logical flaw in the reviewer's argument?

　　A. The paintings chosen by the book's author for analysis could be those that most support the book's thesis.

　　B. There could be criteria other than the technical skill of the artist by which to evaluate a painting.

　　C. The title of the book could cause readers to accept the book's thesis even before they read the analysis of the paintings that supports it.

　　D. The particular methods currently used by European painters could require less artistic skill than do methods used by painters in other parts of the world.

　　E. A reader who was not familiar with the language of art criticism might not be convinced by the book's analysis of the 100 paintings.

　　Prep2012-Pack1-CR-008 VCR07644 Easy

　　Many breakfast cereals are fortified with vitamin supplements. Some of these cereals provide 100 percent of the recommended daily requirement of vitamins. Nevertheless, a well—balanced breakfast, including a variety of foods, is a better source of those vitamins than are such fortified breakfast cereals alone.

　　Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support the position above?

　　A. In many foods, the natural combination of vitamins with other nutrients makes those vitamins more usable by the body than are vitamins added in vitamin supplements.

　　B. People who regularly eat cereals fortified with vitamin supplements sometimes neglect to eat the foods in which the vitamins occur naturally.

　　C. Foods often must be fortified with vitamin supplements because naturally occurring vitamins are removed during processing.

　　D. Unprocessed cereals are naturally high in several of the vitamins that are usually added to fortified breakfast cereals.

　　E. Cereals containing vitamin supplements are no harder to digest than similar cereals without added vitamins.

　　Prep2012-Pack1-CR-009 VCR014015 Easy

　　Plant scientists have used genetic engineering on seeds to produce crop plants that are highly resistant to insect damage. Unfortunately, the plants require more fertilizer and water to grow well than normal ones do, and the seeds themselves are quite expensive, and for most farmers the savings on pesticides would not compensate for the higher seed costs and the cost of additional fertilizer. However, since consumer demand for grains, fruits, and vegetables grown without the use of pesticides continues to rise, the use of genetically engineered seeds of this kind is likely to become widespread. In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

　　A. The first presents a development that the argument seeks to show will have certain disadvantages; the second is introduced as a consideration likely to offset one of those disadvantages.

　　B. The first presents a development that the argument predicts will have a certain impact; the second acknowledges a consideration that weighs against that prediction.

　　C. The first supplies a context for the argument; the second is a part of the evidence presented as support for the argument's conclusion.

　　D. The first is evidence provided to support an intermediate conclusion that is drawn in support of the argument's main conclusion; the second is that intermediate conclusion.

　　E. The first and the second each provide evidence in support of the argument's main conclusion.

　　Prep2012-Pack1-CR-010 VCR004721 Easy

　　Paper&Print is a chain of British stores selling magazines, books, and stationery products. In Britain, magazines' retail prices are set by publishers, and the retailer's share of a magazine's retail price 25 percent. Since Paper&Print's margin on books and stationery products is much higher, the chain's management plans to devote more of its stores' shelf space to books and stationery products and reduce the number of magazine titles that its stores carry.

　　Which of the following, if true, most strongly argues that the plan, if put into effect, will increase Paper&Print's profits?

　　A. Recently magazine publishers, seeking to increase share in competitive sectors of the market, have been competitively cutting the retail prices of some of the largest circulation magazines.

　　B. In market research surveys, few consumers identify Paper&Print as a book or stationery store but many recognize and value the broad range of magazines it carries.

　　C. The publisher's share of a magazine's price is 50 percent, and the publisher also retains all of the magazine's advertising revenue.

　　D. Consumers who subscribe to a magazine generally pay less per issue than they would if they bought the magazine through a retail outlet such as Paper&Print.

　　E. Some of Paper&Print's locations are in small towns and represent the only retail outlet for books within the community.